UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomes IISD's new tool for climate change policymakers

NEW YORK— June 23, 2008—The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), in collaboration with the United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) Secretariat, has launched a new tool for climate change policymakers.

The CLIMATE-L.ORG Project is a knowledge management website and electronic newsletter that provides information to decision makers on the actions of international organizations in responding to the problem of global climate change.

In one location, (http://www.climate-l.iisd.org) users can find the most up-to-date knowledge-base on climate-related actions throughout the international community, and, specifically, the latest information on United Nations activities provided in cooperation with the UN system agencies, funds and programs through the UN Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) Secretariat.

The CLIMATE-L.ORG Bulletin will contain the key précis and summaries posted to http://www.CLIMATE-L.iisd.org during the previous two weeks, along with guest articles on international climate change activities, written by the heads of UN and other international bodies. IISD will contribute a fortnightly analysis of global activities on climate change, focusing on the inter-governmental negotiations for long-term cooperative action around the areas of adaptation, mitigation, technology and finance.

The first issue of the CLIMATE-L.IISD.ORG Bulletin features an essay by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon entitled, On the Way to Copenhagen. In this article, the Secretary-General speaks of his vision for long-term collaborative action to combat climate change and the role of the United Nations in this effort.

"I have made it a personal priority to ensure that the United Nations plays its full role in this process, not only because climate change is just the kind of global challenge that the UN is best suited to address but also because of the clear moral imperative for bold, decisive and urgent action," Ban said, adding, "Our common priority is a deal in Copenhagen, on time, and in full. This bulletin is a welcome way to keep us in touch and on track as we each do our part to meet our collective obligation to realize this goal."

The first issue of the CLIMATE-L.IISD.ORG Bulletin has been sent to the CLIMATE-L listserv and can be found here.

The content found at http://www.climate-l.IISD.org is provided by IISD's Reporting Services team of Issue and Institutional Cluster Experts, working virtually from throughout the world and providing a constant stream of articles and updates on international climate change activities that are organized and searchable by actor, issue area and the four UNFCCC "building blocks" for a post-2012 climate change regime: mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology.

Policymakers following the Bali Roadmap negotiations can use this site to track progress in the various policy formulation streams. The CEB and international organizations will use this database to assist them in coordinating system-wide activities to combat climate change.

CLIMATE-L listserv marks first decade

The CLIMATE-L listserv, which was launched by IISD in 1998, is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a primary communications mechanism for more than 18,000 professionals in the climate policy community. IISD Reporting Services will use this existing network to distribute the fortnightly electronic newsletter, CLIMATE-L.IISD.ORG Bulletin.

"We expect CLIMATE-L.IISD.ORG to quickly become one of the policy community's primary sources of information on climate change," said Langston James Goree VI, Director of IISD's Reporting Services.

"With so much information and so many activities throughout the world on the issue, it is essential to have a single knowledge-source that can deliver what policymakers need, particularly as we move through the next few years of intense international negotiations on the issue," Goree said.

The CLIMATE-L.IISD.ORG Project has financial support from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the IISD and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC).

For more information please contact Langston Goree at kimo@iisd.org or at 1-917-293-4781.